Emergency shower



Sept. 27, 1966 H. ROLFES 3,274,619

EMERGENCY SHOWER Filed April 2, 1954 INVENTOR. Hmvs Rm F55 TTORNE YUnited States Patent 3,274,619 EMERGENCY SHOWER Hans Rolfes, Bronx,N.Y., assignor to Trans Continental Electronics Corp., New York, N.Y., acorporation of New Jersey Filed Apr. 2, 1964, Ser. No. 356,831 4 Claims.(Cl. 4-145) This invention relates to the provision of what is termed anemergency shower usually located externally of a plant or factory forthe purpose of administering a shower to an operator, particularly afterthe operator has been exposed to any type and kind of contamination oratmospheric condition which requires immediate shower treatment. Moreparticularly, the invention deals with a device of the characterdescribed employing means for heating and insulating the piping leadingto the shower nozzle and/or including operating valves controllingactuation of the shower, so as to maintain the same in operativecondition at all times, notwithstanding the outdoor temperature whichmay prevail.

The novel features of the invention will be best understood from thefollowing description, when taken together with the accompanyingdrawing, in which certain embodiments of the invention are disclosedand, in which, the separate parts are designated by suitable referencecharacters in each of the views and, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side and sectional view illustrating one typeof installation made according to my invention, with part of theconstruction broken away and omitting illustration of insulatingmaterial for sake of clarity, such material being illustrated, insection in FIG. 3.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic side view of a modified form of installationwhich can be employed, the several parts of the installation being shownin elevation; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 33 of FIG. 1.

In illustrating one adaptation and use of my invention, I have shown inFIG. 1 of the drawing a concrete slab 5 upon the top of the ground 6,which would be externally of the plant or factory building, inconjunction with which the emergency shower is employed. At 7 is shown awater supply line extending through the ground 6 to a riser 8, whichextends upwardly a sufficient height to dispose a shower head 9 seven ormore feet above the surface of 5. Coupled with the riser is a horizontalpipe 10, at the end of which is a depending pipe 11, with which theshower head 9 is coupled. Arranged in the pipe 10 is a control valve 12actuated through a lever 13, to the free end of which is coupled adepending manually operated rod 14, which can include, at its lower end,a suitable handgrip portion 15.

Enveloping the riser 8 from a predetermined depth position 16,preferably below the frost line, is a tubular protective casing 17,including an elbow portion 18 at its upper end, a horizontal portion 19around the pipe 10, another elbow 20 at the end of pipe 10 and adepending tubular portion 21 encircling the depending pipe 11. Thistubular casing can be composed of any suitable material havinginsulating properties such, for example, as polyvinyl chloride.

Arranged within the casings 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 at suitably spacedintervals are induction heating coils 22, the wiring between adjacentcoils being diagrammatically illustrated by the lines 23. Mounted inconnection with the casing 17 is a thermostat 24 in a suitable enclosuremeeting specification requirements of any area in which the installationis made, the thermostat having an electrical coupling to the riser 8, asdiagrammatically seen at 25, so that the water in the riser andextending to the valve 12 can be maintained at any desired temperature"ice ready for use at all times. In many instances, a temperature ofapproximately 70 F. is desirable.

In order to simplify the illustration in FIG. 1 of the drawing, theinsulating material employed in the casings 17, 18, 19 and 20 are notshown but, to clearly illustrate this, an enlarged section through theriser 8 and the casing 17 is shown in FIG. 3 and, at 26, I havediagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 3 the insulation which completelyenvelops the induction heating coils 22, as well as the piping employed.Any suitable type of insulating material can be employed and I havefound that polyurethane will be suitable for this purpose.

It will be understood that location of the manually actuated valvecontrolling operation of the shower can have different locations in thepipe line and, to diagrammatically illustrate one such other location, Ihave shown, in FIG. 2 of the drawing, the arrangement of a valve 12 inthe pipe 7', a suitable coupling being provided in the pipe 7' adjacentthe valve 12', as shown at 27. In FIG. 2, 5' represents the concrete orsimilar slab and 6' represents the earth beneath the slab. 17', 18',19', 20' and 21' will be similar to the casing shown in FIG. 1 and 9represents the shower head. At 24' is shown the thermostat, similar tothe thermostat 24.

Extending upwardly from the valve 12 is an operating rod 28, having anangularly disposed handle member 29 facilitating manual operation by theindividual taking the shower. With the structure shown in FIG. 2, itwill be apparent that, in continued operations, water will be maintainedin the riser shown, in part, at 8 in FIG. 2 and, by virtue of this fact,the maintenance of the desired temperature of this water will bemaintained by the induction heating coils which are employed, similar tothe coils shown in FIG. 1 of the drawing.

With an emergency shower of the type and kind under consideration,successful operation of the shower can be maintained at all times to beassured of accomplishing end result as, in most of these instances, theshower operation is an emergency which must be performed instantly forprotection of the individual being treated.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. An emergency shower comprising a shower head in predeterminedposition above an outdoor ground slab, means for supplying water to saidshower head, said means comprising a supply line submerged a frost safedistance below said ground slab, a riser extending upwardly from saidsupply line and coupled with a horizontal pipe extending to said showerhead through a depending pipe, said first named means including amanually actuated valve controlling discharge of water from said showerhead, a casing completely enveloping the riser, the horizontal pipe andthe depending pipe extending to the shower head, interconnectedinduction heating coils mounted on and spaced longitudinally of theriser horizontal pipe and depending pipe, a thermostat controlling saidcoils, and insulating material in said casing around said coils, riser,horizontal pipe and depending pipe.

2. An emergency shower as defined in claim 1, wherein said valve isdisposed in the horizontal portion of said piping, a lever for actuatingsaid valve, and a depending handgrip member in operative engagement withsaid lever.

3. An emergency shower as defined in claim 1, wherein said valve islocated in the supply line of said first named means, an upstandingelongated valve operating rod projecting above the surface of said slab,and a handle member fixed to the upper end of said rod for rotating thesame.

4. An emergency shower comprising a source of water supply to a showerhead in predetermined spaced relation above a supporting surface, saidwater supply comwater supply from said submerged pipe to said shower 5head for insulating said water supply, interconnected induction heatingcoils within said encasing means and mounted on and spacedlongitudinally of the riser, longitudinal pipe and said depending pipefor induction heating of said water supply to a point adjacent saidshower 1 head, a thermostat in circuit with said coils for controllingthe temperature of water in said supply, and a manually actuated valvein said water supply controlling discharge of water from said showerhead.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,105,040 7/1914Paulus 137341 1,278,926 9/1918 Henrickson 4l45 2,042,278 5/1936 Sloan4-145 3,120,600 2/1964 True 137-341 LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner.

H. ARTIS, Assistant Examiner.

1. AN EMERGENCY SHOWER COMPRISING A SHOWER HEAD IN PREDETERMINEDPOSITION ABOVE AN OUTDOOR GROUND SLAB, MEANS FOR SUPPLYING WATER TO SAIDSHOWER HEAD, SAID MEANS COMPRISING A SUPPLY LINE SUBMERGED A FROST SAFEDISTANCE BELOW SAID GROUND SLAB, A RISER EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM SAIDSUPPLY LINE AND COUPLED WITH A HORIZONTAL PIPE EXTENDING TO SAID SHOWERHEAD THROUGH A DEPENDING PIPE, SAID FIRST NAMED MEANS INCLUDING AMANUALLY ACTUATED VALVE CONTROLLING DISCHARGE OF WATER FROM SAID SHOWERHEAD, A CASING COMPLETELY ENVELOPING THE RISER, THE HORIZONTAL PIPE ANDTHE DEPENDING PIPE EXTENDING TO THE SHOWER HEAD, INTERCONNECTEDINDUCTION HEATING COILS MOUNTED ON AND SPACED LONGITUDINALLY OF THERISER HORIZONTAL PIPE AND DEPENDING PIPE, A THERMOSTAT CONTROLLING SAIDCOILS, AND INSULATING MATERIAL IN SAID CASING AROUND SAID COILS, RISER,HORIZONTAL PIPE AND DEPENDING PIPE.